[ SECRET POST #3154 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3154 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 050 secrets from Secret Submission Post #451.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I got this as well, on a(n admittedly somewhat intense) 55k adventure/romance fic. It was a very, very shippy fic, but the main pair only kissed about three times all told in between escapes and battles and kidnappings, and the secondary pair only met in the flesh for an emotional reunion at the very end. Someone commented to say they were happy there were no sex scenes, because those are often repetitive and trivial.

I think a lot of people maybe get burned by those long fics where the main pair seems to be having sex like twice a chapter for bugger all reason, and just want a change of pace? I know I have a problem with those ones.

[fingalsanteater]

Yeah, I tend to skim fics or back button if they are just a series of sex scenes unless there is some other kind of payoff I'm waiting for in regards to the fic.

[ketita]

omg, I thought I was the only one!
In most long shippy fics, I actually start skipping sex scenes pretty early on - they get so boring, you know? It's all samey... and then soonish after I realize that the sex scenes get longer and longer, and the plot gets sparser and sparser, and the whole thing grinds to a depressing halt.

[melissatreglia]

You're not the only one.

I've noticed that, in a lot of fics and regardless of fandom, for every awesome slow-burn fic there's 1000 with the 'ship characters bumping uglies for no apparent reason and with the plot (what little of it there is) falling by the wayside and left unresolved until a hasty wrap-up in the next-to-last chapter. Then the final chapter is filled with the usual fantasy-marriage-with-babies-ever-after stuff.

I've basically dubbed it the EL James Syndrome.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants a meaty plot with their smut, or for there to be love without the smut.

[ketita]

It might be that one of the issues with slow-burn fic is that what's often slow-burning is the UST. It's all about lots and lots of UST, and lots of issues the characters get stuck up in their own heads trying to resolve, with little-to-no external plot moving things along.

Haha, you described it perfectly. Only in fics I've seen, it's the hasty wrap-up in the penultimate scene/chapter, with the ending and climax being a huge dramatic exultant smut scene.

I think there's a lot to be said for writing romance without smut, or with very little smut. If only because it forces more emotional investment. My personal rule for writing romance is that there has to be both a "romantic" plotline and an "external" plotline, i.e. events that carry on regardless of the romance.